Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) Shares Acquired by Lingohr Asset Management GmbH

Lingohr Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI - Free Report) by 65.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,815 shares of the electronics maker's stock after acquiring an additional 1,907 shares during the period. Acuity Brands accounts for approximately 3.2% of Lingohr Asset Management GmbH's holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Lingohr Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Acuity Brands were worth $1,325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 3.5% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 1,435 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Acuity Brands by 148.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 4,397 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 2,627 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Acuity Brands by 14.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 475 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Acuity Brands by 221.2% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $1,609,000 after buying an additional 4,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in Acuity Brands in the 1st quarter worth $757,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.21% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Acuity Brands news, SVP Barry R. Goldman sold 5,120 shares of Acuity Brands stock in a transaction on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $305.00, for a total transaction of $1,561,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 8,438 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,573,590. The trade was a 37.76 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Acuity Brands Price Performance

NYSE:AYI traded down $6.52 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $316.95. The company had a trading volume of 321,922 shares, compared to its average volume of 256,147. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.78 billion, a PE ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.40. Acuity Brands, Inc. has a one year low of $176.93 and a one year high of $337.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $296.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.60.

Acuity Brands (NYSE:AYI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 1st. The electronics maker reported $4.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.90 by $0.40. Acuity Brands had a net margin of 11.00% and a return on equity of 20.49%. The company had revenue of $1.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.74 earnings per share. Acuity Brands's quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Acuity Brands, Inc. will post 15.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Acuity Brands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 18th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. Acuity Brands's payout ratio is currently 4.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AYI shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Acuity Brands from $280.00 to $318.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Acuity Brands from $289.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Acuity Brands from $266.00 to $303.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Acuity Brands from $315.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Acuity Brands from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $324.00.

Acuity Brands Company Profile

Acuity Brands, Inc provides lighting, lighting controls, building management system, location-aware applications in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL); and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG). The ABL segment provides commercial, architectural, and specialty lighting solutions, as well as lighting controls and components for various indoor and outdoor applications under the A-Light, Aculux, American Electric Lighting, Cyclone, Dark to Light, eldoLED, Eureka, Gotham, Healthcare Lighting, Holophane, Hydrel, Indy, IOTA, Juno, Lithonia Lighting, Luminaire LED, Luminis, Mark Architectural Lighting, nLight, OPTOTRONIC, Peerless, RELOCWiring Solutions, and Sensor Switch.